diff --git a/ietf/static/ietf/js/select2-field.js b/ietf/static/ietf/js/select2-field.js
index c4efe6f7a..12b1e7ddd 100644
--- a/ietf/static/ietf/js/select2-field.js
+++ b/ietf/static/ietf/js/select2-field.js
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ function setupSelect2Field(e) {
             element = $(element);  // jquerify
 
             // The original data set will contain any values looked up via ajax
-            var data = element.select2('data');
+            var data = element.select2('data') | [] ;
             var data_map = {};
             
             // map id to its data representation